"Wow," exclaims the visitor from New Zealand, a place, after all, with a human history shorter than most. For from a wooden walkway were gazing down at an archaeological site of giddying age. Built about 9000 BC, its more than twice as old as Stonehenge or the Pyramids, predating the discovery of metals, pottery or even the wheel. This is Göbekli Tepe in south-eastern Turkey, generally reckoned the most exciting and historically significant archaeological dig currently under way anywhere in the world, and there are neither queues nor tickets to get in.

Wow for a number of reasons, then, though its neither the access nor the staggering implications of the sites age that has particularly impressed the man from distant Auckland. Neolithic Göbekli Tepe is also remarkably beautiful. From the partially excavated pit rise circular arrangements of huge T-shaped obelisks exquisitely carved with foxes, birds, boars and snakes or highly stylised human attributes including belts, loincloths and limbs. Were profoundly moved by this glimpse into a radically recast prehistory, and mystified too. Even the archaeologists hard at work on this September morning can only speculate about its function, not least because the stones appear to have been deliberately buried.

This series of sanctuaries is the oldest known monumental architecture, explains the excavation leader and approachable on-site presence Professor Klaus Schmidt. Maybe burial was already part of their concept from the very beginning.(continued)

I don’t know *why* they buried it but I’m glad they did! Have you looked at photos of the carvings? They’re in pristine condition. Look like they were done last week. It’s an astounding find and most people say “gobble gobble what?” when you try to tell them about it. ;o)

7
posted on 04/23/2013 11:46:17 PM PDT
by Hetty_Fauxvert
(FUBO, and the useful idiots you rode in on!)

I agree. Cities have always grown up around churches and temples. I wonder if the cultivation of grain was at least partly in response to a need to feed ancient visiting pilgrims (for a price, of course).

12
posted on 04/24/2013 4:53:57 AM PDT
by RadiationRomeo
(Step into my mind and glimpse the madness that is me)

I wonder if the monoliths themselves might be remnants of some even older civilization; their hard square edges and the detail of the carvings are very sophisticated. They almost look like some sort of antediluvian highway support pillars.

The carvings are interesting to contemplate as they are not carved into the stone monoliths, but sit in relief on the surface. That required an amazing amount of carving to produce the monoliths; 12,000 years ago.

14
posted on 04/24/2013 5:14:29 AM PDT
by Flick Lives
(We're going to be just like the old Soviet Union, but with free cell phones!)

When the King NutTar and his Queen Ishtar saw it after it was completed, the Queen didn`t like all the animal cartoons which she said ranked of ox bestiality and lizard fetishes.

So the King ordered it buried coz it was offensive to his Queen`s royal eyes.

He killed the neo-cartoonical architect and found another architect who was schooled in the Pre-Byzantine style which has a lotsa domes and spires and arches and loudspeakers and beards. However, the animal fetish memory was forever enshrined into the name of the new city, Ish-Dung-Bull, not far from this site,by the new royal architect who was of friend of the old dead royal architect, who was from San Francisco.

But it could not be fully suppressed and soon spread to Paris. This royal ban on erotic fetish cities is what started the Trojan War soon afterwards. Centuries later the neo-cartoonical school was re-born in Sodom and Gomnorreah.

15
posted on 04/24/2013 5:14:32 AM PDT
by bunkerhill7
(("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione.))

People have been eating long before this one site was constructed; there’s no telling what it was used for — someone on the thread suggested it was the first zoo, which is amusing. 8000 years ago, still in preceramic times, a group from the mainland colonized Cyprus, their origin known from their rubbish tip, where bones of the species they brought along for food were found.

37
posted on 04/26/2013 6:32:37 PM PDT
by SunkenCiv
(Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)

I can’t think, and your claim doesn’t make any sense. Agriculture led to larger populations and a need to settle disputes over boundaries, water supplies, and raiding by outsiders and neighboring groups. That necessitated recordkeeping. The rise of literature followed the rise of accounting and title deeds. Agriculture brought about food surpluses, and the rise of other crafts not related to agriculture, as well as standing armies to defend territory and food and water supplies.

40
posted on 04/26/2013 6:41:09 PM PDT
by SunkenCiv
(Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)

Puzzle piled upon puzzle as the excavation continued. For reasons yet unknown, the rings at Göbekli Tepe seem to have regularly lost their power, or at least their charm. Every few decades people buried the pillars and put up new stonesa second, smaller ring, inside the first. Sometimes, later, they installed a third. Then the whole assemblage would be filled in with debris, and an entirely new circle created nearby. The site may have been built, filled in, and built again for centuries.

People have worked with stone for 100s of 1000s of years, including some possible small images of animals and such; one apparent stylized statue of a human dates back 400K years. Stone was used to work stone at this site. But it appears you’re really just objecting to the writing in the article.

47
posted on 04/26/2013 8:39:37 PM PDT
by SunkenCiv
(Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.